This new consumable released with the V4.2 patch.
How Old (or Young) Network TV’s Audiences Are
This season’s top 10 most popular shows on network TV in the US have a predominantly older audience.
According to a report from the The New York Times, major networks like CBS, ABC, and NBC are struggling to attract younger audiences, who are instead choosing to consume their entertainment media on streaming services like Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu.
The outlet made a list of the “top 10 entertainment shows during the 2017-2018 television season,” which shows the median age of the viewer. Check out the list in order from oldest to youngest below:
Destiny 2: Warmind Lost Memory Fragment Locations
Collect all 45 of these fragments for an exotic sword and sparrow.
Stormy Daniels: Trump discloses payment to reimburse lawyer
An ethics watchdog says Mr Trump should have revealed the payment, which he earlier denied, sooner.
Amazon’s Lord of the Rings Series Will Reportedly Focus on a Young Aragorn
Rumours are pointing to Amazon’s The Lord of the Ring series focusing on the adventures of young Aragorn.
A tweet from generally reliable Tolkien rumour source The One Ring says multiple sources have confirmed the new series will at least start centred around the young life of Strider.
This move makes sense as Aragorn’s history is rich for storytelling. Aragorn’s life covers a large breadth of stories in the Tolkien universe, from his humble beginnings, when his legacy had been hidden from him while his mother fought to protect her son, right up to the events in The Lord of the Rings movies.
IT: Chapter 2 Casts Adult Losers’ Club Members Eddie and Stanley
Actor James Ransone will feature as the adult Eddie in the upcoming IT: Chapter Two, and Andy Bean will play Stanley. News of each casting comes via Deadline and Variety respectively.
Ransone recently completed work on Hulu’s upcoming series, The First, which is about humanity’s first mission to Mars. Ransone stars in the series alongside Sean Penn and Natascha McElhone. He’s previously starred in Amazon’s Bosch as well as HBO’s Treme, The Wire, and Generation Kill. Andy Bean previously featured in HBO’s Here and Now, as well as Power on Starz.
Red Dead, GTA Company Responds To Fortnite’s Massive Success
Fortnite has taken the gaming world by storm, and now Red Dead Redemption and Grand Theft Auto parent company Take-Two Interactive has responded yet again to the game’s success. During an earnings call today, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick doubled down on what he said before: you don’t become an industry leader by following what other teams have done before you.
Speaking to analysts, Zelnick said he doesn’t expect his studios–2K Games and Rockstar Games–to follow in the footsteps of Fortnite and PUBG.
“I think if one changed one’s business to follow other people’s big hits, you’d be constantly playing catch up,” he said. “And to say you wouldn’t be in second place is an understatement. You might remain in last place. So it’s our job to innovate, and more often than not that has driven our success.”
Previously, Zelnick spoke about how Take-Two is certainly aware of Fortnite’s success, he would rather have his studios push forward with new ideas instead of being “derivative” of something that came before. Rockstar is dipping its toes in the battle royale space with GTA Online, which added a battle royale mode called Motor Wars in 2017. And just this week, Rockstar added another battle royale-inspired mode called Trap Door.
Zelnick added that what Fortnite’s success shows is that some of the most successful games are the ones people don’t see coming. As an example, Zelnick pointed out that some industry-watchers said Red Dead Redemption wouldn’t succeed because Westerns had fallen out of favour. But of course, that game was a smash hit, and the sequel due this year is expected to be a massive success as well.
“Maybe the biggest learning [from Fortnite] is just the reinforcement of the fact that big hits by their very nature are unexpected. What drives a big hit is innovation not derivation,” he said. “That’s what we’re proud of around here. When we put out Red Dead Redemption, the conventional wisdom was that western titles do not work in the video game business–and Red Dead Redemption was a big hit and we have extremely high expectations for Red Dead Redemption 2.
“So I think the fact that Fortnite surprised everyone, particularly given where Fortnite came from–after all, what is now in the market is based on a prior release that did not perform all that well. It’s just a reflection of the fact that if you innovate and give consumers what they want, you can get an extraordinary result. And while we would love to corner the market in hits, and we certainly see it as our job to do so, we don’t have all of the hits and we shouldn’t expect to.”
As Zelnick alluded to, Fortnite began its life as a paid game called Fortnite: Save the World, with the free-to-play Battle Royale iteration coming years later.
Also during the call, Zelnick said another thing Fortnite has made clear is that free-to-play as a business model has been “transformative” for gaming and helping to increase the reach of gaming overall.
“The free-to-play revolution, if you will, whether that’s mobile or fixed, has been transformative for the business,” he said. “It’s massively increased the size of the business. There are a lot people who think Fortnite has welcomed into our industry people who didn’t previously play video games. Some of that is anecdotal; it’s hard to know, but I think some of that is right. This is all good news.”
Take-Two already has a substantial free-to-play business through games released in China and through its relatively recent acquisition of mobile game studio Social Point. While free-to-play is an important part of Take-Two’s business, Zelnick stressed that big-budget, narrative-driven, and highly polished juggernauts like GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2 remain “terribly important” to Take-Two as a business.
In other Take-Two news, the company announced today that a new game from 2K–potentially a new Borderlands or BioShock–has been delayed. 2K will be at E3 2018 next month, but as of yet we don’t know what the company plans to show off or discuss at the event.
Nintendo Giving Collectible Pins To Switch Owners At E3
If you’re going to E3 this year, consider bringing your Nintendo Switch along. The company announced it will be giving out collectible pins to anyone seen playing their Switch in and around the convention center during the event.
According to the announcement, the pins will be handed out by roving Nintendo reps while supplies last. These are made exclusively for E3, so they’ll be hard to find outside the convention center. Pins are a frequent giveaway item at booths, and this is likely to be in high demand among the attendees. Plus, bringing your Nintendo Switch is a fine way to pass the time while you wait in lines.
Public-facing promotions like this are part of the changing face of E3, as it becomes a hybrid between an industry press show and one made for consumers. Last year the convention opened its doors to the public for the first time, a trend that is repeating this year. Nintendo has been leaning into taking its messaging directly to fans for years–first by ending its stage presentations in favor of pre-filmed showcases, and then by hosting exhibition tournaments. This year the focus is Super Smash Bros, complete with its own tourney.
E3 2018 will take place June 12-14 in Los Angeles. Most of the big announcements will be packed into the days prior with press conferences from EA, Microsoft, Bethesda, Square Enix, Ubisoft, and Sony all spread out across Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Nintendo’s showcase will debut Tuesday morning, just hours before the show opens.
Legion Season 2: Episode 7 Breakdown!
David faces Farouk yet again while delusion infests Division 3. Check out Ryan and Greg’s breakdown of Legion Season 2 Episode 7, “Chapter 15”!Borderlands Publisher Delays Next Entry in a Major 2K Franchise
One of the biggest franchises from publisher 2K has been delayed until 2020.
Parent company Take-Two Interactive Software released the information its latest earnings report, revealing that a game that was set to be released this fiscal year has been pushed back.
“The highly-anticipated title from one of 2K’s biggest franchises, which had been planned for release during the current fiscal year, is now planned for launch during fiscal 2020 to allow for additional development time,” the report states.
Previously, we speculated the upcoming title – which was announced during an earnings report from last year – could be a new BioShock game, after reports suggested 2K’s work on the currently codenamed Parkside could be the next in the BioShock series.